Just saw something posted up on CDC re: Kesler's shoulder/arm. Apparently he posted a picture of himself via Twitter which shows that his shoulder is in a sling, but he also has a cast on his forearm. The fanny pack has a portable iv pump for pain meds.

I wonder if his pre-op imaging showed something in his lower arm that needed to be fixed. Hence the cast.

From what I know: The sling is pretty common post op for initial shoulder joint immobilization. The Fanny pack with pain pump - also common. The forearm cast is not common (for a shoulder surgery which was likely arthroscopic). The cast itself doesn't look like a long arm cast - not needing to immobilize elbow for fracture or humerus fracture. Likely a short cast (forearm only) which means Distal forearm fractures,Wrist sprains and carpal injuries, or Some metacarpal fractures.

“It’s not happening,” Overhardt said Thursday. “He’s not ahead of schedule and there’s no rushing him back. He’s on course to return in December and he’s not returning until he’s 100 per cent. Don’t expect him until December.”

That’s not the only issue with Kesler. He also had minor surgery on his left wrist June 27. Two days later on his Twitter account, a group picture showed Kesler in a sling and his wrist in a cast with a caption that read: ‘Great times in Michigan.’

“He had been experiencing some mild discomfort and had some tendon issues that needed to be cleaned up,” confirmed Canucks assistant general manager Laurence Gilman.

It explains a lot. Occasional hip-flexor stiffness from a previous procedure, a wonky shoulder and a bothersome wrist greatly affected Kesler’s shot and battle level last season in dropping from a career-high 41 goals to 22 and no goals in five playoff games. After amassing 17 points in a 15-game span in December, scoring in five-consecutive games from Jan. 31 to Feb. 9, he then went eight without a goal. He suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder on Feb. 9 but played through it.

The Kesler recovery adds fuel to the fire that the Canucks may consider unrestricted free agent centre Jason Arnott as a third-line centre, who could also fill in on the second line. While the Canucks are high on Jordan Schroeder and could use Maxim Lapierre in that capacity, they also need a veteran presence and size to push for a return to postseason prominence.

Good to hear Overhardt come out with some "Whoa whoa hostie tabernac..." on the Kesler recovery situation. Hopefully he's sending Kes the same message. I wouldn't mind if he didn't come back until January if it meant his body was fully healed. The team is strong enough to make the playoffs without him so what's the rush?

My point isn't anything original. Questions have been raised about the Canucks' medical staff of late. There's the Hodgson debacle, Malhotra coming back early (IMO), Kesler coming back early, Samuelsson saying his leg wasn't working at the start of the season (he didn't play a game for the Panthers until months later), and now Gillis has come out and said that Kesler might even be ahead of schedule and that he/they are "hopeful" that Kesler could be ready for the start of the season.

All along we've heard that Kesler will miss the start of the season. Suddenly Gillis goes on Team 1040 and says that there's a possibility that Kesler could be ready for Game 1. Kesler's agent then speaks up and says that that's an impossibility and to expect Kesler to come back in December (the original expected month). I don't think Gillis is the type to speak out of his ass so I'm assuming that he made his statement about Kesler's recovery based on something he heard from the Canucks medical staff. Of course I could be wrong in my assumption and Gillis might just be spewing crap or heard something from someone or people other than the Canucks medical staff.

I think both perspectives have merit, GM's do not like other teams to delve into their players inujuries or private life. It diminishes the players value.

But we've long held in Vcr that we have the best medical staff and who knows there's are a lot of good staff. Every team thinks that of their staff ( except maybe the Flyers ) but facts do point in the direction who ever is at the top of the chain is not providing great cold cut facts down the line, maybe rose coloured glass version ( a lot of that going a round ) There again maybe MG expects the season to start in December and technically Kesler will start the first game

Fred wrote: Every team thinks that of their staff ( except maybe the Flyers ) but facts do point in the direction who ever is at the top of the chain is not providing great cold cut facts down the line, maybe rose coloured glass version ( a lot of that going a round )

Yes , yes lots of rose colored glasses and peaches and cream here....

Could be worse..... a bunch of chicken littles who think the sky is constantly falling or the Oliver Stone types who think there's a conspiracy around every corner.

Hockey Widow wrote:Or MG doesn't want other gm's to know the real situation on Kesler which may affect trade offers.

This is exactly what I thought he was doing. He is a cagey guy our GMMG. He gives Cody protected minutes in good situations to up his worth. He is sitting pretty with Luo awaiting what I expect to be a good trade for us. Part of his poker face is to make it appear that we don't need anything but we will make the trade if we get everything we want. He isn't a part of the Old Boys Network so he has to do what he does best. No doubt strategy he developed while working as a player agent.